Page 98 of The Alpha King's Curse: Part Two

Layla’s cheeks coloured, and she looked away from him. He had no idea why he brought it up when he knew what even thinking about fucking Layla did to him. He clenched his fists and turned away from her before he did something stupid.

“Everyone knows who I am, especially in this area,” he said gruffly. “And I already told you you’re too far from anything; you can't walk unless you want to get lost in the woods.”

He walked back to the pantry to give himself a moment to think. He couldn’t leave her again, but he hadn’t spoken to Faith yet to see if she would stay with Layla for the next few months. If she agreed, it would still take her to pack and head to the city. He also needed a warrior he could trust to keep them safe.

Which meant he was stuck with Layla until then. Stuck with the knowledge that he was nothing to her. Stuck with that pain in his chest that wouldn’t stop until he severed their bond.

He sighed and pulled his phone out to send quick messages to Faith and Micah. Micah would know which warriors hadn’t turned on him and send one with Faith. When that was done, he took some potatoes off a shelf and walked out of the pantry.

Layla was still in the kitchen, standing in the same spot as if she hadn’t been walking for hours.

He took some meat from the fridge and put all the ingredients on the counter.

“What are you doing?” There was panic in her voice.

"What does it look like? We need to eat."

"You're staying?" More panic.

He stopped what he was doing to look at her.

"You keep endangering my baby. I obviously can't trust you to be alone."

"There is no one and nothing here!" Layla said, walking towards him. "I was never in any danger."

"And the fact that you can't get that simple fact in your head is why I'm staying," he growled, turning to face her.

His anger returned, and he welcomed it. It was a lot easier to deal with than anything else.

“What would you do, huh? If someone caught you and imprisoned you?” He stepped forward until he was only an inch from her. “If they sent me a piece of you every day to torment me? If they killed my heir and then you?”

He felt a frisson of fear from her.

“You don’t know my world, Layla. You don’t know the depths of the depraved things my enemies would do just to hurt me.”

“But I’m nothing to you! Why would they?”

After everything, that’s what she still thought?

He put his arm around her and pulled her forward, closing the gap between them. The contact set him on fire, as it always did. How did someone feel all of that and think they were nothing?

“You’re mine,” he growled.

Layla shook her head, but her eyes flashed and her heart thumped against her chest.

“No,” she whispered.

“Mine,” he repeated.

And her eyes stopped flashing. They started to glow as her mask fell off, and all her emotions surrounded them. And her wolf’s emotions surrounded them. He closed his eyes as he tried to take all of it in.

There was a lot of anger, but Layla’s wolf knew what those words meant.

“Mine,” he whispered.

And Layla’s wolf accepted that fact.

“Don’t say words like that,” Layla whispered.

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